"One might wonder how we would be controlling our television sets today if it wasn't for... Zenith."
James Fohl, writer
By the 1950s the television set was beginning to establish itself as a firm feature of the family living room and viewers soon grew tired of constantly having to leave the comfort of their favorite armchair to change the channel.
One of the first incarnations of the remote control was the 1948 Garod "Telezoom." This small, round, single-button remote was connected to the television by a wire, but its only function was to enlarge the picture on the screen. Thus it was Zenith Radio Corporation (now Zenith Electronics Corporation) that pioneered the modern remote control. The founder president, Eugene F. McDonald, Jr., was worried that advertisements would kill television, and so challenged his engineers to invent something that would "tune out annoying commercials." In 1950 the rather aptly-named "Lazy Bones" was born. The remote control activated a motor in the television set that operated the tuner. However, this device was still connected to the television via a cable.
Five years later Zenith engineer Eugene Polley came up with the "Flashmatic," which used a beam of light rather like a flashlight to change channel, cut off the sound, and activate the television. Unfortunately the light sensors in the television were so sensitive that a beam of sunlight could turn it on or off randomly.
In 1956 Zenith's Dr. Robert Adier suggested using ultrasonics (high-frequency sound) and the "Zenith Space Command" went into production. This model set the technological trend until the 1980s, when newly developed infrared technology arrived.
